Motorists set for 'record-breaking' petrol prices as poor sales push up cost at the pump

FUEL prices are set to surge to a record-breaking level as tanker drivers at a key refinery begin a strike.

The average cost of filling a car with petrol has soared by more than £3 since last month

Easter fuel prices could smash the high-price record as tanker drivers at the Grangemouth refinery, which supplies Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, begin a three-day strike in a row over pay and pensions.

After surging 5p a litre over a month, the price of petrol at the pumps has gone up a further 1p in the last five days alone, the AA has revealed.

The average cost of petrol in the UK is now 138.32p per litre, with diesel having risen 4.78p from its mid-January price to stand at an average of 145.10p.

The latest figures show that petrol has risen 6.24p since early January, adding £3.12 to the cost of refilling a typical 50-litre tank.

The AA said filling up the 70-litre tank of a Ford Mondeo now costs £4.37 more than it did six weeks ago, while a two-car family's monthly petrol cost has risen £13.25 with the current price surge.

Petrol sales are at their lowest for 23 years as a result of the prices surge, with drivers using 1.465 billion litres of petrol in January – down 14 million on the previous all-time low set in March last year.

The new petrol price hike has triggered a slump in sales

This latest surge in fuel prices and its impact on spending indicates that UK drivers and families can't take any more.

AA president Edmund King

The AA's report added drivers have been caught between the pound weakening against the dollar and soaring wholesale prices, both due to stock market speculation.

Regionally, Yorkshire and Humberside and the north of England are the cheapest for petrol at the moment at 137.6p a litre, with prices in London and Scotland at an average of 137.8p. Northern Ireland is the most expensive at 138.7p.

Yorkshire and Humberside remains the cheapest region for diesel, averaging 144.2p, while East Anglia, Northern Ireland and southeast England are the most expensive at 145.2p.

AA president Edmund King said: "This latest surge in fuel prices and its impact on spending indicates that UK drivers and families can't take any more.

"We're no longer talking of the motorist as a cash cow for tax and speculator greed, but a horse slowly but surely being flogged to death.

"This is the third 10p-a-litre wholesale price surge in 11 months, given extra vigour by currency speculators betting against the pound."

Mr King called on the Government to scrap the planned rise in fuel duty scheduled for the autumn.

"Given the lashing motoring families and UK businesses are taking from speculator-driven fuel prices, we hope the Chancellor spells out clearly in the forthcoming Budget that he can feel the pressure rocketing fuel price inflation places on families and business, and that he will cancel the September rise if that strain is too great," he said.

Government revenue from fuel duty has been hit hard as Britons reduce spending by cutting back on non-essential journeys.

The 100 million-litre fall deprived the Government of nearly £60million last month alone.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) recently ruled out a full inquiry into the UK's soaring petrol prices.

The OFT claimed there was no evidence drivers were being ripped off, a decision critics later branded a “whitewash”.